Get Outside: Make the Most of the End of Summer

September 5, 2018

Labor Day may mark the unofficial end of summer, but we’ve still got a few weeks left! Make the most of this time by getting outside as much as you can. If you’re all tapped out of ideas after summer break, try some of these activities with your family! They’ll allow you to maximize the great outdoors without even having to leave home. (Plus, they’ll still work in fall, too.)

Get Crafty

Think of all of those arts and crafts projects that are just too messy to do inside. Now’s your chance to reduce your clean-up time by taking them outside! Host your own rock painting party and leave them outdoors to dry. Then you can spread your kind messages and art throughout the local community. You can also use other found objects like sticks, seashells, and/or leaves to create 3-D pieces, shadow boxes, wreathes, or whatever else they can dream up! Just throw down a tarp, have the paint on standby, and be sure to get involved yourself! After all, it’s more fun when the whole family participates.

Host Your Own Sporting Event

No, we’re not talking about pre-season games. Invite some friends over and put teamwork into play! Depending on how many people (and potentially how much space) you have, it can be something as simple as four square or a large group game like capture the flag. True team sports are always an option, too. There’s flag football, handball, ultimate frisbee, wiffle ball, kickball, soccer, and many more! It’s a great opportunity to have fun, exercise, learn sportsmanship, and spend time together. No matter what sport you ultimately choose.

Learn a Little about Your Surroundings

How much do you know about your environment? Can you identify nearby mountains? Local rivers and other tributaries? What about basic tree species or even constellations? Well, now’s a good time to brush up on this information! Kids are naturally curious, so if you’re willing to teach them, chances are they’re willing to learn. Encourage them to point out unfamiliar natural objects and search for their names together. If you really want to make this a tech-free activity, you can invest in some books on the local flora, fauna, geography, etc. and locate new information that way! As the seasons start to change, these features might alter in appearance, creating even more educational opportunities. Plus, when the temperature drop, you should have better views of the night sky for star gazing and meteor showers. Learn more about upcoming natural events worth seeing here(link to http://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/earthskys-meteor-shower-guide).

Take the ideas that best suited to your family and feel free to add to this list! When it comes to spending family time outdoors, it’s hard to go wrong. As you’re enjoying the remainder of summer on your porch, patio, deck, or lawn, let us know if there’s anything we can do to help! This is actually one of the best times to do a little outside renovation, so you can have a new entertaining space to use as we move into fall.

Testimonials

My wife and I recently purchased a new home and needed a fence. We contacted excel among a few others and had them come out to perform a free estimate of what we were looking for. They were great in helping us decide on what would be best for our needs now and in the future, and really worked with us on our budget as well to keep it as affordable as possible. In getting quotes from some of their competitors, excel came in SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper than the other quotes I received. One of our biggest worries was that we had two dogs and unfortunately we booked too late to have the fence installed prior to our moving in. Excel was great in providing temporary fencing for us so we could still allow our dogs out back without having to worry. On the date of install they arrived exactly as scheduled, first thing in the morning. Everything with the install went great. It took two days to complete, and looks even better than we had hoped. I would happily choose excel again in the future if I ever need anymore work done.

Fencing Customer, Baltimore County, MD

Had a great experience throughout! Charlie was beyond flexible for scheduling an estimate and getting the job done within our preferred time frame. The work crew was great and the whole job was completed in 3 days, which I thought was impressive for over 400 linear ft. We love our fence, but probably not as much as our dog does! Would highly recommend Excel for any fencing job!

Fencing Customer, Baltimore County, MD

We are very happy with our newly installed fence. We went with a 3 rail vinyl fence and it looks great. It seems very sturdy and looks like it will last for many years to come. The install team was on time, very friendly and professional. Charlie and Lisa were quick to answer emails and phone calls. Charlie went above and beyond to make sure we loved our fence and that we were 100% satisfied. I feel we made an excellent choice by choosing Excel Fencing and would recommend them to anyone.